Now I'm not a good source for prices in britain, but I have a Canon EOS 350D which is quite a fantastic little (ok, not so little) camera, and cost me around 700€.

My first two questions would be What are you going to be using it for, and How much do you know about non digital SLRs ? If you want to do a lot of messing around, discovering what an SLR can do and just having fun and you're only used to compacts, then you'll be looking at a smaller budget than if you know more and will be using it for a semi-professional standard of use.

Also do you have a digital camera already ? If not, you will have to take into account the additional price of the storage card whatever, if not, you may be able to work around it and use one you already have.

In a lot of places you will find starter packs, with the Camera body, plus for example one or two lenses, a storage card, a battery, a pouch/bag, etc. These are worth it if you just want to start out (sounds like you do) but if you want a specific lense, shop around a bit and compare prices. Try internet AND highstreet shops, good surprises do happen...

I have had a look around, and I must say there aren't many digital SLRs around for under £400, so good luck to you !! Here's one that looks pretty good : Nikon D50 with 18/55 lense that's the same range as my lense on the Canon EOS 350D and it's pretty good, especially for wide angle, but you get hungry for a decent zoom quite fast (although this may be because my previous camera had a kick-ass zoom and I got used to it...)

Now one thing about SLRs is that you don't usually get a preview on the screen as you would on a digital compact, unless you're aiming for a big budget one, and also they're quite heavy and bulky to carry. I would say if you're totally starting out with digital cams, start with a good but much cheaper compact, unless you're really used to using a non-digital SLR, because the extra cost isn't really worth it for just messing around taking pictures of weasles no matter how sexy they are.

Edit to respond to Ben (+ spelling) : Yes, if you do go for a compact, do be carefull the zoom is optical, digital zoom is just messing about with pixels and he doesn't like it (do you pixel ?). Batteries is also a big point, if you can find one with a lithium battery rather than inserting normal batteries, you'll save yourself a lot of money in the long run, and a lot of torn out hair... Especially when around fish. And I would say decent print-out resolution starts around 3.2 pixels, that's fine for doing medium sized blow-ups... but yes, over 4-5Mp there's no point unless your shooting for large printouts or professional standards.